Sanitizing Old Bottles

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

jderm

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2010
Messages
50
Reaction score
1
Location
Chapel Hill
So i bought 48 bottles from my LHBS, mostly clean with a few tough spots. I soaked them in Oxiclean for about an hour, then went to town with a bottle cleaner. I got most of the visible junk out of the bottles, but there were a few stains that couldn't be dislodged. Before i bottle, they be sanitized with StarSan. Should I worry about those stains harboring anything harmful to the beer, or is this a non problem?

thanks,
Jderm
 
I'd avoid using the ones that are questionable. Perfect reason to buy a 6'er of something you've been dying to try . . .
 
For the really tough stains, I soak in a bleach solution for an hour or two (about 2 oz bleach for 5g water). Then rinse really with hot water. If that doesn't get rid of everything, I wouldn't use the bottle.

Actually, I don't do that because I have enough bottles, and they never get bad enough to need that sort of treatment, but I used to when I was building up my bottle supply.

-a.
 
You can't sanitized something that's not clean, so you should
boil them in a kettle of water for about 15 minutes.
If this doesn't take the stains off I'd toss them.
 
You can't sanitized something that's not clean, so you should boil them in a kettle of water for about 15 minutes. If this doesn't take the stains off I'd toss them.

+1 add a spoon of Oxiclean or PBW to the water prior to boiling. I had a Sanke keg that was so stained on the inside that nothing would get it clean. A few tablespoons, water and heat cleaned it to brandy spankin' new immediately.
 
#3 daughter got some of her friends saving pop-top bottles for me. She brought 60-70 of them on one visit. Cleaned them up and took the lables off...and if the bottom of the bottle was still dirty after scrubbing with OxiClean and a bottle-brush, I put them out for recycling! Like it says above: you can't sanitize what isn't clean!

glenn514:mug:
 
thanks for all the input guys, but they are currently in the oven. figured i might as well just sterilize them.
 
Back
Top